Officers from the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) have today explained why it was necessary to shut the entire motorway - and say they had intelligence to suggest there was a second lorry carrying migrants.

A CMPG spokesman said: "A lot of questions why we didn’t take the lorry into the services.

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Highways England first reported police were dealing with an 'incident' on the motorway at around 4pm - with the lorry containing the 27 people being stopped at around 5.45pm.

The motorway was then closed until around 9.30pm, with hundreds of motorists trapped in the closure - including hundreds of Burton Albion fans attempting to travel to watch their team play Manchester City.

A 42-year-old man remains in custody following the incident, Staffordshire Police confirmed this morning.

The migrants, none of whom were seriously injured, were given a medical assessment and transferred to be interviewed by immigration officials.